


Xanadu Tales

by TechnicalZombie



Series: Villains and Heroes [5]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Asexual Character, Asexual Relationship, Other, new characters - Freeform, snuggles
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-15 14:02:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28939668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TechnicalZombie/pseuds/TechnicalZombie
Summary: A collection of little stories in the Free City of Xanadu.
Series: Villains and Heroes [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1814566
Comments: 3
Kudos: 5





	1. Xanadu Tales 1: Mercury - On the Job

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A night in the life of Mercury, a premier superhero of Xanadu.

Xanadu Tales 1: Mercury - On the Job  
  
Xanadu has so many dark alleys they're considered a feature of the city. And a desirable feature, according to the "criminal" element. Crime is very low, in Xanadu, because very little is illegal there. Murder, of course, is one crime. As are most forms of violent assault in most contexts. Assault is also considered very rude outside the context of mutual combat for fun or money. Smuggling within Xanadu is rare. But getting items out of Xanadu's strictly enforced privacy zones, which includes all of its railways and trains, is a serious business. And it draws in certain professional criminals, as well as their less professional employees.

Employees who think they can revert to their old habits when it comes to making a little petty cash between jobs.

Employees who prowl the alleys looking for victims.

The kind of employees Mercury followed down this particular allyway tonight, when they followed a pair of apparently well-monied Xanadu citizens. Mercury knew they were at best on the lower end of middle class for Xanadu. But the high prevalence of custom clothiers, even for the common citizen, makes everyone look better dressed than newcomers usually expect.

Mercury slipped into the shadows, zir form darkening as ze converted zir surface material to a comfortably dark molybdenum-iron alloy. Ze'd managed a new trick of applying a matte finish to zir surface. It actually felt quite cozy, like soft wool. Ze didn't change their eyes, however. Ze never changed their eyes, preferring the clarity of pure gold. Ze didn't understand why a pure, high conductivity metal worked best for vision, only that learning to focus changes on different organs and body parts had been zir best new skill in five years. This was why the soles of their feet could become soft mercury, for silent stalking.

"Hold it." Said burly visitor, pulling his gun.

The two citizens, dressed for a party, turned in surprise, then took a step back in alarm.

"Cash and jewelry, on the ground." The mugger ordered. "Stay cool and nobody gets hurt."

The pair hesitated. Their eyes locked on Mercury as ze stepped out of the shadows behind the mugger, zir gold eyes gleaming in the light of one of the many back doors.

"That's right, stay-"

The mugger tried to whirl and bring his gun to bear on Mercury, who seized his wrist in a literally iron grip. Ze supposed it was to his credit that he pulled a second weapon instead of trying to futilely free his gun hand or fire the weapon wildly. Still, the dagger he pulled merely scratched zir iron skin as he slashed, and snapped when he tried to stab zir. Then ze grabbed the other wrist and began squeezing. The mugger gasped in pain as Mercury forced him to his knees, zir strength multiplied by alloys in zir muscles that hand taken months to learn. The gun dropped from nerveless fingers and clattered on the pavement.

"As I was saying, stay cool and nobody gets hurt. Now, apologize." Mercury ordered.

"Sorry?" The mugger seemed confused.

"Sorry for…?"

"Sorry for trying to mug you?" He tried again.

"And?"

"And I won't do it again?"

One of the citizens, looking real cute in a short jacket, perfectly tailored skirt, and boots that must have taken a few months to save up for, since good cobblers aren't cheap, walked over and leaned over the mugger.

"Two things: One, hardly anyone carries cash in this city. Two, apology accepted, but only cuz you're an out of towner who don't know better." They straightened and smiled at Mercury. "Thanks Mercury. C'mon down to Madam Ace's when you got time. Free cuddles for you." They grinned and walked away with their friend.

Mercury released the mugger and stomped on the barrel of the gun he'd dropped, leaving it partially flattened and embedded in the pavement.

"C'mon, lets get you back to your employer."

The mugger, rubbing his wrists and looking ruefully at the broken dagger and smashed gun on the ground, looked at Mercury and asked, "Wait, was…she a w-" he quickly changed what he was about to say as Mercury gave him a warning look, "-er…a prostitute?"

"Madam Ace's is an asexual snuggle bar. They're just a regular service worker. You need a health department license to sell sex in this city. Look for red lantern badges. Now let's _go_. Take me to your boss. They didn't want to press charges but _you_ clearly need to watch the city visitor orientation video again."

It took a few tries to convince the thug he wasn't being arrested, then some threats to convince him to take Mercury to his boss. His boss, however, was clearly familiar with the city. He politely paid the city's mandatory fine while the thug watched a ten minute video meant to familiarize out of town criminals with Xanadu.

"And if he does it again, I'm gonna break his arm and put him in Xanadu's system. Got it?" Mercury threatened as ze left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Madam Ace's is quite possibly the most plush, pastel swathed, tooth achingly sweet bar in Xanadu. Like about half the bars in the city, it's in a basement. A series of basements, really, and three entrances. The stairs leading down to them are gentle, and the handicapped elevators are totally silent. It's the very definition of "Soft Comfort". The city's free navigation app will lead you there, but Mercury already knew how to get there.

Mercury nodded to the door-bot as it opened the door. Inside, soft pop music filled a space of soft colors and softer lighting. Mercury didn’t form xir Watch uniform in here. Instead, ze formed a loose mesh shirt of silver and gold thread attached to a choker of dark iron threads with a platinum bell. The bell had zir pronouns, ze/zir, in raised letters of gold. The skintight crop-top underneath was, technically, an alloy of titanium, iron, cobalt, and copper, but it made a wonderfully soft weave that Mercury used often for clothing. The tight miniskirt hugging zir curved hips and muscular thighs was a gently shimmering weave of high copper electrum and red gold. Leggings covered zir legs covering them up to several scant, but absolutely important, centimeters short of the hem of the miniskirt. Mercury had never had hair, being born with xir abilities, but a plating of pure gallium, textured in an expanding fractal pattern, was better anyway. Similarly, pure gold lips and iron dark eyeshadow further enhanced zir sharp features. Finally, tall heels of woven copper and put a strident sway to zir walk. And on of the big advantages of being a shapeshifter, ze was always comfortable in heels.  
  
The mesh shirt, just wide enough to fit a finger through along with other skintight clothes, revealed zir slim physique of highly defined musculature. Mercury didn't need shapeshifting to look fit. When relaxing zir form to look like zirself, the result was always similar. As Mercury had grown into zir gender-fluid identity after coming to truly realize it, it became clear zir body would never really settle into just one look. But there were a few typical traits. Slim, taught musculature, not especially tall, sharp, androgynous facial features, all blending masculine and feminine into zir current balance between the binary ideals. One never knew what Mercury might look like, from week to week, something ze changed hour to hour, depending on zir mood.

"Mercury, darling~!" a silvery, and Mercury would know, voice called as ze entered.

Madame Ace, real name Amee Catelene Descarte(no relation, probably), the gorgeous, voluptuous, possibly 800-year-old immortal, proprietress of Madame Ace's swept down on the somewhat shorter Mercury with the grace of a great snowy owl. An impression primarily imparted by the cloud of feathers she wore tonight. Mercury sighed into the hug Madame Ace pulled zir into.

"Mmm…thanks. Say, I hear you've got someone new tonight. Dark skin, green eyes, blue hair, really cute boots."

"Oh, that's Astel! How'd you know about her? She's just starting tonight."

"Well, you know how good my hearing is." Mercury said modestly. "I pick things up here and there."

"Ah, clever child, I know you do." Madame Ace said with an expressive wave, "You'd be her first patron, you know." She seemed reluctant, "You're one of my favorite patrons, I'd have preferred she get more practice on the general floor before receiving a patron."

"Well now I'm nervous _and_ excited." Mercury turned zir best pleading expression up to Madame Ace. "C'mon, please?"

"Oh, pfah, very well. I can't refuse that darling face." Madame Ace huffed, "Booth Twelve. I'll send her to you with your usual drink?"

"You're the best." Mercury said in thanks, and headed for the private booth.

The private booths had a couch for up to six, heavy privacy curtains that blocked out almost all but the loudest noises. Mercury also knew they had a table and TV that came up from the floor. Ze settled into the comfy couch and waited. It wasn't long. Astel, as her name turned out to be, arrived with two drinks. One for each of them. Mercury was glad that, unlike many full body elementally transformed supers, zi'd retained the human ability, and need, to taste and consume normal food. Granted, ze seemed able to make much greater use of it.

"Hey Mercury." Astel said with a charming smile. "I didn’t know you were a regular here."

Mercury smirked back, "In here," ze motioned to the booth, "I'm Mercutia, or Mercutio when I'm in wearing a spiked choker instead of a bell."

Astel stares at zir. "You're kidding. Like from Romeo and Juliet?"

Mercutia grins, "And that's why my real name isn't common knowledge. Everyone thinks anyone who tries to spread it around is lying. But that's what my mother named me. She loved Mercutio. She _really_ loved the movie. Always said is was the most faithful adaptation of the play."

"I've never seen it." Astel said as she sat next to Mercury, snuggling up to zir as Mercury slipped an arm around her. "Oh! You're warm!"

Mercury chuckled, "Not actually much warmer than a normal human, but metals are good conductors, so I feel warmer. You'll really like me when winter rolls around. I'm like a space heater."

"I like it already." She said and snuggled closer. "Oh, sorry I'm not supposed to…call attention to…"

Mercury shook zir head, "Don’t worry about it. We're both new to each other. And this is a two-way thing. We're supposed to be comfortable with each other too. Are you new to Xanadu?"

Astel relaxed. "Well, a couple weeks. I'm…kind of on the run. But it turns out that's pretty common here."

"I think 'on the run' described half the population."

"Well, details aside, I was in the job placement office, Madame Ace was there and she just…picked me."

"She does that." Mercutia said with sage nod.

"So, a few weeks of paid training, apparently required by the city which was a surprise, and tonight's my first night. That was my roommate with me. She works the bar next door."

"Well, Astel, do you know what I want to do for your debut?" Mercutia asked with a smile.

"What's that?"

"I'm gonna show you Romeo and Juliet, released 1996."

"Then I need popcorn and at least two more drinks."

"It's what old Bill would have wanted for you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Astel was definitely the right person to introduce that movie to. Mercutia enjoyed watching her watch the movie at least as much as ze enjoyed the movie itself. Somehow, it never really got old. Popcorn and drinks were brought be servers from the bar who received orders from the digital menus in the booths.

"That was…really something." Astel said as the credits were rolling.

"It really is." Mercutia agreed.

"If you want, I'd like to-"

The ground shook.

"What was that?" She asked in alarm.

Mercury was already on zir feet, high heels that are part of your body are no hindrance. Zir was still, a wound coil of energy waiting to spring.

**BOOMBOOM!** The heavy thuds shook the building, seemingly closer than before.

"That's a fight." Mercury said, "I gotta go." And threw the curtains aside as ze hurried out.

"Let's do this again!" Astel shouted after zir.

"You got it!" Mercury shouted back.

Outside there was a mess. A wrecked armored transport was burning, overturned in the road as the driver scrambled away. Standing before it, a massive lizardlike man, by the size…it had to be Nile King, the other crocodile-man who wished he could be half the villain King Croc was on his worst day.

Pulling themselves to their feet several meters away were Iron Talon, a martial artist, aged seventeen, and Chimera, aged sixteen, and able to incorporate the traits and abilities of animals, other people, and even other supers and their powers, into their physique.

Mercury strode out into the street, not even bothering to change zir appearance. It looked like Talon was down, one hand looking limp and odd, probably broken. Chimera covered him, literally, having apparently added some of Nile King's traits to her mélange of traits, which tonight seemed to include fire control, as flames wreathed their body, and something feline. The mixture was rather seamless. It seemed she was in decent control over her powers tonight.

As if to demonstrate, Chimera roared and belched a gout of flame at Nile King. He dodged to the side and spun, whipping his tail at Chimera. Too focused on blasting fire, she didn't dodge and got smacked. The impact hurling them across the street and into, partly through, a brick wall. With her out of the way, Mercury could see a sputtering source of blue fire and light. That would be the third member of the team. Flare. Sixteen years old and the newest member of the new Scrubs. A combination of particle collider accident, resulting in a form of pyrokinesis and super-strength, and overzealous government cover-up, the pursuit of which had driven her here just a month ago. She seemed to be shaking off a heavy blow.

As Nile King moved to loom over Talon, Mercury shouted. "Hey! Canal Prince!"

His head snapped to look at zir. Unlike King Croc, Nile King's pride was sensitive. "Nile King!" He roared, and started striding towards zir.

"Alligator Lord?"

"I'm a croc!"

"You're barely a gharial. More like an ugly shoe!"

Nile King roared in rage and charged.

As usual, the dossier was correct. And so, Mercury countercharged. Ze set of a trail of sparks dodging the swipe of the croc man's claws and sliding between his legs. As Mercury passed his ankles, zir hand and arm went liquid and wrapped around ankles. In the same moment zir other hand went similarly liquid, formed a spike, and ze embedded it in the street. Ze grunted with effort but the trip worked, slamming Nile King face first into the concrete. Chimera must have recovered already, because from the corner of zir eye Mercury saw her huge form already coming down from the sky. A hundred-foot People's Elbow drop.

Ze winced as the street cracked, and from the sound, so did Nile King bones. Chimera rolled to her feet, wreathed in fire and leaving a charred mark on Nile King's leathery skin.

"Thanks for the assist." She rumbled.

"Thank me when he stays down." Mercury countered.

"What?"

With a growl, the huge croc man was getting to his feet. He whipped around, massive tail swinging for Mercury. Ze didn't moved and braced zirself. It hit like a truck, deflected upward off the shield ze formed in the last moment, and sent Nile King stumbling away with his own momentum.

"Let's keep him off balance. I'll counter, you hit when he staggers."

"Got it. Talon! Go help Flare!"

Talon shouted an acknowledgement. And Mercury could hear him running the other direction. Meanwhile Nile King was already regaining his balance and turned to face the two superheroes.

"I'm gonna _eat_ you!" he pointed a Chimera. "And I'm gonna melt you down into a-"

"Don't be gross." Mercury interrupted and launched zirself at him.

The fight was chaotic. Nile King was raging and healed faster as a result, Chimera was talented and powerful, but inexperienced. The street suffered as a result. Mercury had to move fast, keeping Nile King staggered and unable to get up a rhythm. It didn't stop zir from taking zir share of hits. The impacts could hurt, but Nile King's claws merely gouged the surface of titanium allow skin, and twice Mercury managed catch his tail to give Chimera the chance for really solid hits. But this was taking too long, and ze was about to decide to start cutting things that would take more than a few seconds to heal from, when someone shouted.

"Chimera! Mercury! Move!"

Mercury only half saw the flare of blue flame, but the decision was instantaneous. Instead of moving, ze turned zir arms and hands into huge shackles and planted one foot, in the form of a barbed spike, deep into the street blow. Nile King had time to yank once, look down at the smirking Mercury with heat sink fins now growing out of zir back, and curse. Then blue flame was rolling over them both.

Mercury held zir breath, converting as much of zir mass into the most heat conductive alloys, with the highest melting points, ze could manage. Ze kept growing ever longer fits of slim, latticed material from zir back. Ze actually enjoyed the heat passing through zir. It was like a hot bath, just on the point of scalding. So long as ze managed to choose an alloy with a high enough melting point.

The heat only lasted a few seconds. Then vanished as the blue flame sputtered and died away. Mercury let Nile King go, his leathery skin now blackened, flaking away to reveal pink, soft skin beneath. He groaned, wavered, and fell. Mercury moved to check him. His breathing and pulse were extremely fast, his eyes rolled back.

Ze turned to Flare, who was being helped by Iron Talon over to a surprisingly intact bust stop bench. "You gave him heat stroke?"

Flare smiled ruefully as she sat. "I tried that when the fight started, he heals fast but I figured, you can't really heal from overheating. But, I don't have much control with big flames so I couldn’t get a clean shot and he only caught a little bit of my first big blast. Thanks for holding him down."

"I can take a lot of heat if I know it's coming." Ze said casually.

Zir outfit had already re-formed from the transformations and citizens were already coming back out to gawk. Mercury looked around and saw that the camera phones were already coming out. Probably had been out for much of the fight.

"Ok, you three take a break, I'll go handle the crowd."

"Dressed like that?" Chimera asked.

Mercury smiled, "Why not?" And sauntered over to the growing crowd.

One doesn't look as fabulous as Mercury without drawing a curious crowd's attention. As Watch officers and City Damage Control arrived, Mercury maneuvered the crowd out of the way, gave most of the credit to the new Scrubs for thwarting Nile King's latest armored car theft [his favorite kind of theft]. Within an hour, the story was mostly about the young supers, with Mercury arriving at the end for a closing assist, the crowd was dispersing and the late-night shift of City Damage Control was cleaning up rubble and prepping the street for repair.

When ze came back to them, the Scrubs were sitting on a new bus stop bench. A lot of city infrastructure was constructed with a modular design, for easy replacement instead of onsite repairs. Chimera was back in, mostly, human form. She wore a full bodysuit, probably of some advanced metamaterial made to adapt to her transformations, colored in a rainbow tie-dye pattern. She also still had black fur, feline ears and face, and a long tail. Add to that her tall and powerfully muscular frame, and she cut an imposing figure. Iron Talon's arm was in a latticework cast. It turned out his arm wasn't broken, but he'd managed to give every bone in his hand and forearm thousands of small but painful fractures. The cast matched his blue martial arts outfit. Flare was recovering and already looked less exhausted, but there were still dark circles around her eyes. She wore a lightly armored suit of a type Mercury recognized, with energy channels and light armor plates. One of Xenomech's old general purpose designs for energy projector type supers.

Flare and Chimera were holding hands and talking quietly. Talon leaned on the bust stop shelter and watched them both with a faint smile. If the stories Mercury had heard from Pulsar about the original scrubs were any guide, this dynamic was already looking familiar.

"They're a cute couple." Mercury whispered to Talon.

He nodded, clearly unsurprised by zir approach. "Flare's been a lot calmer since they started dating. I've been trying to teach her meditation, but now we're actually making progress. And Chimera, well she's at least slightly more willing to let herself be human."

"And what about you?" Mercury asked.

He shrugged, "I'm a master of mystic martial arts. Attachment to the material distracts from the spiritual."

"Maybe, buit I could probably counter that with 'Detachment from the material world, injures the spirit.' So maybe allow yourself to also be a teenager sometimes."

"But…well…maybe a balanced approach wouldn't hurt."

"You're working in and trying to affect good in the material world, after all." Mercury pointed out.

He nodded. "Yeah…yeah that makes sense. I'll have to think about it. How to do that."

"Good." Then ze stepped into the light and spoke normally, "So, can you kids make it home on your own?"

Chimera nodded, "I'll carry her if I have to." She nodded to Flare.

Flare rolled her eyes, "You won't have to carry me. Not that I'd mind…"

Talon only nodded.

"And really, thanks again for the assist. I'm not really sure if we had that." Chimera said.

Mercury shook zir head, "Maybe, maybe not. Next time he escapes, and he's really good at escaping custody, you might have to find out."

Chimera nodded, "Yeah. I've got some ideas for that."

Mercury left them at the bus stop, apparently, they planned to take the bus home. It was pretty clear they were trying not to show how zir tired they really were. Youngsters always tried to put on a brave face for the senior heroes, while the seniors shook their heads ruefully as they recalled doing the same at that age. Mercury assessed zir own physical condition. Ze felt uninjured, didn't need any sleep at the moment, at least a couple more days before ze would need a nap. Somehow zir powers had greatly reduced zir need for rest, in addition to the reduced need for food. A few hours was a week was all ze really needed.

So, feeling good, and ready for more action, ze approached a Watch Box. It was a new innovation of an old concept. About the size of an old British Police Box, metallic red, and made to contain most supers. And for Mercury, who couldn't easily carry a communicator or smart device, it was a way to contact The Watch. Zir clothing shifted back into the Watch uniform as ze entered the unlock code and connected to central dispatch.

"This is Mercury, back on duty. What's urgent tonight?"


	2. Xanadu Tales 1.5 - So Smooth, it's Criminal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But what was in the armored truck you ask? Just a little thing...

Xanadu Tales 1.5 - So Smooth, it's Criminal

"Whoo~ damn…he does leave a mess."

The armored truck was on fire, fallen on its side. The young kung-fu fighter was rushing towards his dazed comrade, Chimera was climbing a wall while Mercury taunted the big lizard man. Of course, the fire was no problem, it wouldn't do anything to the armored chassis. It would take a heavy cutting charge to get through the armored box on the back. In a city with more super criminals than post offices, it's worthwhile to build your armored transports to a higher than normal standard.

But if you're smooth enough. Even ten centimeters of depleted uranium and titanium alloy plating isn't a problem. It's even easier when you anonymously hire a famed armored car heister to intercept your target.

The figure that now, smoothly, moonwalked across the street, was in no hurry. Their dark red mask, topped by the white fedora, and the red rose in their breast pocket, drew no notice. When you're smooth, calm, and in control, nobody really pays much attention. Even the perfect white wingtips that facilitated their perfectly smooth moonwalking, drew no notice. Even though they managed to stay perfectly clean at all times. When you're smooth, there's neither muss nor fuss.

"Hey baby, there's no need to stay all locked up like that." The criminal, speaking smoothly and softly, placed a device about the size of a _small_ smartphone, over the keypad in the door. "Just open up to me."

The slim, black suited criminal leaned back against the bumper of the stricken truck, and waited. A very smooth waiting pose, one foot up on the bumper, the other leg braced out, one forearm across their chest, the other lightly touching their forward cocked white fedora. No need to hide, nobody would be looking. Not when there's a flashy fight going on. Extra flashy tonight with Mercury done up in xir off-duty best. Hmm…damn if xe don't look good tonight. There's something about xir, everyone gets drawn in. A certain magnetism that probably has nothing to do with the ferromagnetic metals xe's capable of becoming. The criminal began to wonder, not for the first time, if Mercury had ever dated a criminal. It could work, after all. Though Pulsar and Menace were, maybe, special cases. Still, it's not that weird. Maybe a woman like her could catch the eye of a hero like Mercury.

Her musing was interrupted by a beep from the device. She detached it from the door, entered her own code, and let the door fall open. She stepped back smoothly as it did, deftly avoiding the could of dust kicked up by the impact, and stepped into the dark interior. Inside was an unconscious security guard. She checked him, nothing broken, strong heartbeat. She was a criminal, the smoothest ever, also sometimes spy and assassin, but never a monster. This wasn't a kill operation. It wasn't smooth to leave bodies in your wake if you don't have to. She picked the lock on the briefcase handcuffed to the guard. They opened with barely a sound, just a soft, _smooth_ click. She stood with a smile, invisible behind her smooth cloth mask.

Mission accomplished; the Smooth Criminal took one last glance at the heroic scene down the street. The fight hadn't lasted very long, and Mercury was already dealing with the crowd and the first sirens of regular Watch cars were approaching. They'd be followed by Damage Control and in about two minutes, things would be decidedly not-smooth around here.

"Smooth and clean. As always."

The moonwalk across the street went unnoticed again. After that, vanishing into the alleys and shadows of Xanadu was the simplest thing imaginable.


End file.
